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Immigration and Citizenship

March 18, 2015
Washington, D.C. – The House Judiciary Committee today approved by a vote of 21-12 the Asylum Reform and Border Protection Act (H.R. 1153). This bill, authored by Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), strengthens asylum standards to prevent the Obama Administration’s rubberstamping of fraudulent claims, effectively ends “catch and release,” and prevents American taxpayer dollars from being used to pay for unlawful immigrants’ lawyers.
 
March 18, 2015
Washington, D.C. – House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), Congressman Lamar Smith (R-Texas), Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas), and Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) – in conjunction with the American Center for Law and Justice – today filed an amicus brief with the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in support of the federal district court’s decision to halt President Obama’s executive overreach on immigration in Texas vs. the United States.
March 17, 2015
Washington, D.C. – House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), and Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee Vice Chairman Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) today applauded the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Department of Labor’s (DOL) decision to continue processing H-2B applications while they finalize interim regulations for the seasonal guestworker program.
March 4, 2015
Washington, D.C. – The House Judiciary Committee today approved by a vote of 17-13 the Protection of Children Act (H.R. 1149), a bill to ensure that unaccompanied alien minors (UAMs) who make the dangerous journey to the United States are safely returned home.
March 3, 2015

Washington, D.C. – The House Judiciary Committee today approved by a vote of 20-13 the Legal Workforce Act (H.R. 1147). This bill, authored by Congressman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) preserves jobs for legal workers by requiring U.S. employers to check the work eligibility of all future hires through the E-Verify system.  The Legal Workforce Act is supported by Numbers USA, the U.S.

February 23, 2015

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte welcomed five new Republican members to the House Judiciary Committee for the 114th Congress. We will profile each new member in a five-part series.

Biography

John Ratcliffe is the Congressman representing the Fourth District of Texas. He is a limited government conservative with a well-established record of defending the Constitution and balancing budgets without raising taxes.

February 18, 2015
Washington, D.C. – On Wednesday, February 25, 2015 at 10:00 a.m., the House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on the unconstitutionality of President Obama’s executive overreach on immigration.
February 17, 2015
Washington, D.C. – House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) issued the statement below after Judge Andrew Hanen of the U.S. District Court in Brownsville, Texas temporarily blocked President Obama’s unilateral immigration actions: “President Obama’s executive overreach on immigration poses a clear and present danger to our Constitution and I am pleased that the President’s actions have been temporarily halted so that the states’ lawsuit can move forward.
February 13, 2015

Washington, D.C. – House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) today sent a letter to Department of Homeland of Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson expressing concern about the startling new changes made to the expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that could place potentially hundreds of thousands of unlawful immigrants on a pathway to citizenship.